Wishful Thinking
by deathrosekitty
Summary: Ino had a crush on him over the years, way before Sasuke. She has recently decided in her 16th year that it was all wishful thinking, but Kakashi’s recent actions aren’t adding up and Ino’s going to get to the bottom of it.Dedicated to Wishful Thinking.
1. Over The Years

**I do not own Naruto and I am NOT the manager of the lovely community **_**Wishful Thinking.**_

This fanfiction is dedicated to the Wishful Thinking community that is managed by** liltle**. The theme and title do not belong to me, I just wrote this for the community because I liked the theme and love the pairing even more.

_Ino had a crush on him over the years, way before Sasuke entered the picture. She has recently decided in her sixteenth year that it was all wishful thinking, but Kakashi's recent actions aren't adding up and Ino's going to get to the bottom of it. KakaIno_

**Wishful Thinking**

Chapter 1: Over The Years

Ino propped up her arm to rest her head on her hand. The other one hand was flipping through a flower magazine with pen marks all over it. It was marked to show the orders her family was going to make for the next month.

The loud mouthed girl forgot about the magazine as she heard the bell ring. It was just after opening time, way too early in the morning for regular people, but she guessed this hour suited him since he was here every day on the dot like clockwork. Ino gave that one cliché to him and him alone.

"Hello Kakashi. Your regular order right?" Ino smiled as she handed him the already wrapped flowers. She had been waiting for him since she opened the shop.

The silver haired man spoke, "Thank you, Ino, keep the change."

"See you tomorrow morning!"

He hesitated a moment, an eyebrow raised in confusion. "One of your parents isn't going to open the shop?"

"No," Ino answered. She blushed at the extra attention, even if it didn't have anything to do with her. "Dad is getting ready for a mission and mom is over in Suna."

"Yes. I heard that your family was going to set up another flower shop over there. Wasn't it something about bringing the two countries closer?"

Ino looked down at the counter, "Yeah."

She liked the way his eyes crinkled in a smile that no one ever saw beneath his mask. He wished her a good day and told her he would see her tomorrow. Ino watched the silver haired man walked out of the shop and disappear down the street.

It had been quite a few years since Ino Yamanaka had developed a crush on the older man, Kakashi Hatake. The whole thing had started innocently enough.

_Seven year old Ino Yamanaka was ready for the ninja world and every harsh trial it had. She was full of wisdom and strength._

_The young blond watched herself in the mirror and pumped her fist upwards. She was beyond excited to meet some of her father's friends. _

_Ino ran down the stairs at full speed when she heard talking downstairs. She skidded to a stop as her mother started to scold her and her father introduced her to his friends at the same time. The blond girl didn't care about anything at the moment her eyes landed on a silver haired man who had his lower face covered with a mask. _

"_This is Kakashi, Ino." Inoshi stated when he found his only child staring at the older man._

"_Hello, Kakashi."_

_Kakashi's eyes crinkled in what Ino hoped meant that he was smiling. "Hello. I hear you're at the top of your class."_

_Ino lifted her head at the mention and bragged, "Yes, I am higher ranked than most of the males in the clans and I am the strongest female in my class. The other girls don't even come close."_

_He nodded. "That is good. You shouldn't brag so much though, it's not attractive."_

_She gasped and blushed. "I-I will try to not brag so much."_

_Ino watched him throughout the dinner. There was no one like Kakashi. All of the other boys in her class were too shy or too rude and this older man was just so charming to the young girl._

It must be love! _Ino thought as he taught her a jutsu in her family's huge back yard. Everyone else was laughing and joking around the campfire her father had made, but Kakashi patiently taught her something rather than joke around with the other adults._

"_Why aren't you with the other adults Kakashi?" She asked him after she had gotten too tired to learn another jutsu._

"_I only came here out of respect for your father's birthday."_

_Ino wanted to know but she didn't push. Instead she smiled and said, "Do you ever take off that mask?"_

"_No." _

"_Really? It must be hard to eat then!" She joked. Kakashi eyes crinkled down at her. She took it as a smile._

_It was the best smile a girl could receive._

Ino blinked at the rapidly rising sun. It had already been an hour and all she had been doing was day dreaming of Kakashi. She thought that she was beyond this! The loud mouthed girl learned a long time ago that the love she thought she had for him was just a one-sided crush. Ino was thankful that she never told him or anyone for that matter and when Sasuke had become drastically different and Sakura declared their friendship over because of a stupid rumor she had forced herself to act like she was one of the Uchiha's fan girls rather than to think about how she would never have that silver haired older man.

The one problem was that she never stopped liking Kakashi.

Over the years she saw him less and less except for the rare days that Ino got stuck with the earliest shifts in the flower shop. Even now he still got the same flowers. The ones meant for mourning. She had always wondered quite a few things about the mysterious man.

_Why did he always wear the mask?_

_Who were the flowers for?_

The questions always made Ino's head spin. She had no way to get the answers she wanted without being overly noisy and since she was now sixteen it would be well known that she had a crush on him rather than just simple curiosity and Ino couldn't stand the teasing she would get from that.

She didn't even want to think about being rejected by the one guy who has never hurt her.

The bell rang again and people came into the shop. "Welcome to the Yamanaka Flower Shop. How may I help you today?" She really had to learn to quit thinking about Kakashi.

**XXX**

The day was half over and Ino wasn't quite sure where the time had gone. She waved goodbye to her dad, who had taken over the flower shop and headed to the training grounds to practice by herself. Ino wasn't surprised that Sakura was there alone as well. They had planned to do some sparing together, but the loud mouthed blond didn't think that the pink haired girl would have waited for so long just to train together.

They had tentatively formed their friendship again and were no longer rivals. It had taken some time to heal all of the wounds, but Ino admitted that the two could pretty much talk about everything now. Everything except two things that is:

The first thing was Sasuke Uchiha and the second was Ino's secret crush on Kakashi.

"So, Ino, I think I am going to go out with Naruto. What do you think?" Sakura asks like it's an opinion about something as simple as shoes, but Ino knows better.

"He's a bit of a loser," Ino got cut off by Sakura.

"Ino, he's done more for this village than…" Sakura stopped when Ino held up her hand.

"…but he'll treat you better than anyone else. Well, minus Lee, but I highly doubt you want to go out with that bushy eyebrow freak."

Sakura and Ino both shiver at the thought. "True." The pink haired girl admits before she turned her attention on Ino's love life. "What about you Ino? Is there anyone you like?"

Ino looks away, but Sakura caught on, "No."

"You're not still in love with Sasuke are you?"

The blond looked down at her feet before admitting one of the things she never told her best friend. "I never liked him."

"What? Really Ino lying is completely childish!"

"I'm not lying!" Ino yelled before she lowered her voice. "I only acted like I had a crush on him because the real person I have a crush on would never feel the same way about me."

Sakura wrapped her arms around Ino to comfort the loud girl, but now the other girl was curious, "Who did you like Ino?"

"I don't want to tell you."

"Come on!" Sakura whined, "I thought we were best friends. Don't best friends tell each other everything?"

Ino rolled her eyes at the guilt trip that Sakura was giving her. The other girl had strangely mastered that strategy. She mused that it must have been when they were rivals because Sakura was never that good at making her feel bad.

"Okay, I'll tell you! It's…"

**Woo hoo! Chapter one is done! There are four chapters in all, it's a relatively short fic, but at the same time super cute! Reviews will be welcomed.**

Next up!_ Ino tries to find out why Kakashi is acting so strange…_


	2. Kakashi's Confusing Actions

**I do not own Naruto and I am NOT the manager of the lovely community **_**Wishful Thinking.**_

This fanfiction is dedicated to the Wishful Thinking community that is managed by** liltle**. The theme and title do not belong to me, I just wrote this for the community because I liked the theme and love the pairing even more.

_Ino had a crush on him over the years, way before Sasuke entered the picture. She has recently decided in her sixteenth year that it was all wishful thinking, but Kakashi's recent actions aren't adding up and Ino's going to get to the bottom of it. KakaIno_

**Wishful Thinking**

Chapter 2: Kakashi's Confusing Actions

"Okay, I'll tell you. It's Kakashi." Ino closed her eyes as she stated the one thing that she wanted desperately to stay secret.

Sakura only looked confused. "How could you like my sensei? You only met him a little after I did."

"Actually, he used to come over to the house once in awhile when I was younger and he comes to the flower shop every morning."

"Oh." Sakura blinked as she stared at the blond girl. "I would have never guessed… I never knew…"

Ino held up a hand in order to stop her best friends rambling. "Listen, I don't want anyone else to know and it's not like I think anything is going to happen… It's stupid, I know." Ino sighed as she stopped her list of excuses. Sakura was still staring at her…Wait, no. She was staring past her.

The blond girl gazed behind her and gasped. Kakashi was standing a few feet away within hearing distance. He didn't hear her say that she liked him, did he?

"Hello, sensei!" Sakura shouted pleasantly as if Ino hadn't just spilled the biggest secret of her life. She was suddenly thankful that the pink haired girl was her best friend. Ino launched into the role as well.

"Yes, hi, Kakashi! What are you doing here?"

He seemed too still for a second. With one hand occupied by his dirty book and the other in his pocket, his eyes were hard to read and suddenly he was cheerful for no reason as well.

"You have a mission Sakura. Tsunade told me to inform you."

"Ah, thank you sensei!" Sakura touched Ino's arm and sent her a silent message. _It's alright. I'm sure he didn't hear._

Ino nodded towards the girl. _I hope you're right._ "See you later forehead."

"Bye piggy."

Sakura departed and Kakashi stayed there for a moment. He seemed to be reading his book, but Ino felt that he was actually regarding her like he had indeed heard her secret. Then he disappeared in a puff of smoke, all without saying a word.

Ino remembered how to breath shortly after he left. She inhaled big gulps of oxygen like she had never heard of such a thing as breathing.

_Oh, no! He must have heard! What should I do? Pretend it never happened? Tell him it was all a joke? _The loud girl blocked out the panic rising in her system and did what she did best when she was upset.

She ran straight to Shikamaru's.

**XXX**

Ino was done pushing Shikamaru around and telling him what he should and shouldn't do. She always felt guilty afterwards, but there was no other way she had learned to forget things she would rather not remember.

The loud girl sighed as she fell onto her bed and snuggled up to her favorite stuffed animal that Sakura had gotten her. It was a pig, of course. Ino had gotten a stuffed animal for Sakura as well, but it was much harder to find one for her since Sakura's name had to do with a tree and not an animal. She had finally settled on a fox, because of Naruto's resemblance to one and the fact that they were teammates. Now Ino could think that it was kind of meant to be to pick out a stuffed animal that was like Sakura's boyfriend.

_Whoops, they aren't officially a couple, yet. Oh well._ Ino thought. She yawned before she turned her light off and her alarm clock on. There was another early morning tomorrow.

And she would have to see Kakashi.

Ino briefly wondered again if the older male had heard her confession.

**XXX**

The birds woke Ino up before her alarm. She growled at them, even though they didn't care and weren't afraid. The blond girl forced herself out of bed in order to get ready to open the flower shop.

She forgot to worry about seeing Kakashi.

**XXX**

Ino flipped the closed sign to open and headed back behind the counter to look at the flower magazine once again. Their order limit was almost full and all Ino had to do was decide between two flower seeds that grew exclusively in Mist. The flowers were often very popular in Konoha, but their family hadn't considered getting the seeds to grow them themselves until a particularly large order came in for both flowers last month from the Hyuuga clan.

The bell rang and Ino froze. _Oh, no! I completely forgot about Kakashi!_ She looked up to meet the man's eyes. "Oh, Kakashi! I forgot you were coming!"

He watched her rush to get the flowers he purchased every morning. She wrapped them together and handed it over to the silver haired man.

"Here you go!"

Kakashi jumped, or at least that's what Ino thought he did, at her voice. "Are you alright, Kakashi?"

"Yeah, keep the change." He pushed the money on the counter and disappeared in a puff of smoke with his flowers.

_Well, _Ino thought. _That was weird._

She blinked at the empty flower shop. "I wonder why he had to go so fast."

The bell rang again a few minutes later. Naruto came rushing in. "Did you see Kakashi-sensei?"

"Yeah, he was here a minute ago and he left really quickly. Why?" Ino propped up on arm to rest her head on while regarding the hyper ninja. _I don't know why Sakura would want to go out with him…_

"Damn it!" The blond boy exclaimed as he completely ignored the loud girl's question in favor of speaking to himself. "I was so close! Man, I just want a look under his mask!"

Ino watched him run his hands through his hair. "Naruto," she started, but he ignored her.

"Naruto." He ignored her again.

"Naruto!"

The fox boy mumbled to himself, "Where could Kakashi have gone?"

"NARUTO! WOULD YOU SHUT UP AND LISTEN TO ME!?" Ino screamed at the boy. She barely held back from strangling him. She hated being ignored.

"What!?" Naruto screamed back at her.

The blond female shook her fist at him. "Listen, Naruto." Ino clenched her teeth and growled at him. "Kakashi buys flowers meant for mourning every morning so you will probably find him at the hero memorial, okay?"

He gave her a toothy smile and put his hands behind his head. "Gee, thanks Ino! I gotta go, see you later!"

He rushed away and Ino exhaled just to watch her bangs flow up for brief moment. _He has too much energy for early morning. Hm, maybe Kakashi didn't hear me after all since he was just running from Naruto…_

Ino went back to the counter to wait for noon. The time passed by quickly when the normal amount of customers entered the shop. By the time her dad came to the shop her stomach was growling loudly. He laughed at her as she rushed out of the shop towards a nearby restaurant to order something to eat.

After eating she went on her way to the training grounds, but stopped when she saw Kakashi. He was still a ways away, but they were close enough to know who each other was. Ino lifted up a hand to wave at him. He looked straight at her and disappeared in a puff of smoke. Naruto appeared right after that.

"Hey, Naruto! Still trying to find Kakashi?" Ino asked as she approached the boy. Once again, he didn't notice her and continued rambling.

"Stupid Kakashi-sensei… He's the one that asked me to chase him!!! Urrg!"

"Wait, what?" Naruto gave Ino a glare, even though she wasn't the one he was mad at. "Yeah, Kakashi came to me this morning, woke me up, and told me to chase him through the village all day! The worst part is he won't even let me catch him! Oh, wait! I think I see him, bye Ino!"

As the blond boy disappeared Ino growled to herself. "That's it! I'm want to know what's going on with Kakashi and it looks like I'm going to have to find out for myself!"

**Next up!**

_Ino becomes Kakashi's stalker…._


	3. Ino's Mission of Discovery

**I do not own Naruto and I am NOT the manager of the lovely community **_**Wishful Thinking.**_

This fanfiction is dedicated to the Wishful Thinking community that is managed by** liltle**. The theme and title do not belong to me, I just wrote this for the community because I liked the theme and love the pairing even more.

_Ino had a crush on him over the years, way before Sasuke entered the picture. She has recently decided in her sixteenth year that it was all wishful thinking, but Kakashi's recent actions aren't adding up and Ino's going to get to the bottom of it. KakaIno_

**Wishful Thinking**

Chapter 3: Ino's Mission of Discovery

_Damn it, I lost him!_ Ino pounded her fist on a nearby wall and immediately regretted the action. She shook her hurt fist and blew on it. "Where could he have gone…?"

A flash of silver entered her line of sight, just at the corner of her eye, but she paid no attention to it. Then, a moment later a loud flash of orange streamed by screaming, "COME BACK HERE KAKASHI-SENSEI!"

The loud female felt a sweat drop fall down her forehead before she wiped it away. "Could that idiot be more obvious?" She shook off the thought and ran after Naruto, who was much easier to track than the silver-haired man who was acting so out of character.

"Damn it, where did he go?" Naruto shouted to the world. Ino was bent over behind a tree, which served the purpose of hiding her as she caught her breath. While swearing, she declared that she would never understand how boys could have so much energy. As the blond boy continued to yell loudly to himself Ino took the chance to look around.

"Hm, I'm near home… I suppose I can stop in real quick to get something to eat." Her stomach growled and she looked down at it, "Oh, shut up!"

Ino hopped past the oblivious Naruto and ran the few blocks to her home. As she opened the door she forgot about her hunger. Kakashi had his back to her and he was talking with her dad about something.

_I thought he didn't do house calls…_

Her father saw her immediately and smiled, "Hello, princess!"

"Hi, dad…" Ino growled out through clenched teeth, _Old geezer never lets me listen in to his conversations!_

Kakashi's head moved a little to the side, so he could gaze at her from the corner of his eye, "Goodbye."

Both father and daughter watched as the silver haired man disappeared in his familiar cloud of smoke. Ino glared at her father.

"What was he doing here dad?"

Inoshi backed off from his daughter; he was all too familiar with her anger and wished not to be a part of her wrath, "Why don't you go ask him?"

She blinked at her dad, "What?"

"You heard me." The man stated as he ducked into another room, away from his daughter.

"Dad, usually you tell me to stay out of your business or that it isn't anything interesting and you tell me some stupid lie about some boring crap that eventually annoys me and I leave. Why are you telling me to go ask him?"

He shrugged. "Maybe it's because my old tactics don't work?"

Ino glared at her dad again, "Just spit it out! What are you trying to imply?"

Inoshi gave his daughter a large smile before disappearing in a cloud of smoke much like Kakashi had done, "Sorry, hon. You have to figure this one out on your own."

Ino screamed at thin air much like Naruto was probably still doing outside, "Dad, when I get my hands on you I swear I will…Arg!"

She ran outside the door and down the street. Naruto and Kakashi were facing each other in the place where the loud girl left the blond boy. Ino ran at full speed towards both males, but Kakashi disappeared again; she caught Naruto by his collar and pulled him toward her face as he made a choking sound. There was no way she was playing nice now. She had to know what Kakashi was doing.

"What did he say to you?"

Naruto blinked at her slow question, "He told me that Sakura wants me to buy some kind of jewelry for her, and that the store is closing in two minutes! I got to go!"

Ino barely held back from smacking her head with her hand. "Of course it wouldn't be that easy! He wouldn't tell Naruto anything, after all Sakura had said that Kakashi didn't even show up to their training sessions half of the time and when he did he was hours late!"

Giving a glare towards Naruto's rapid retreat she kicked up some dust and walked after him. "Where could he have gone…?"

As Ino entered the busy shopping sector she searched the place with her eyes. She jumped every time she saw a flash of silver that only ended up disappointing her by being an old man, a pole, or something else that was completely uninteresting.

The loud girl sighed, before she noticed that Kakashi was right in front of her, just across the street. He was buying a book. "Aha!" She yelled. "I found you!"

Kakashi ignored her and disappeared among the people who had stopped to gawk at her like she was insane. "Eh heh. I'm sorry everyone!"

Ino ignored her embarrassment at being so loud in the shopping district and ran after Kakashi, who was now slowly walking among the people instead of doing his disappearing routine like earlier.

"Damn it, come back here!" She whispered to herself as random people got in her way to follow the older man. "At this pace I'm going to lose him!"

She looked up towards the sky and remembered, "Oh, yeah! I'm a ninja! I can follow him on the roof."

Ino hopped from place to place a little bit away from Kakashi. It had gotten a lot easier following him after she remembered she didn't have to do it from the ground. She sighed and sat down on one of the roofs as Kakashi entered a grocery store. The Yamanaka female discovered that she didn't know why she was following him and not confronting him about why he was acting strange. She laughed a little at herself that she was acting out of character as well by being his stalker and caring so much as to what was going on in his head.

Her crush on Kakashi had never ended, but before she admitted to Sakura that she liked him she had been just fine watching him from afar and in just one moment when the blond haired girl thought that Kakashi might have heard she was going crazy trying to find out if he did or not. It was only to end up sitting up on a roof top secretly hoping that he did in fact hear her confession. She mentally berated herself even more for another secret hope; that he would return her feelings.

"You should just give it up, Ino." She told herself, "Like he would ever like an immature, spoiled, over-imaginative girl who can't seem to put stupid false hopes and fairy tales behind her to face reality that Kakashi would never be interested in a girl like me…"

Ino wiped a tear from her eye and continued to think about how stupid she was being for caring so much about what an older man who didn't even really know her thought. She gazed down at Kakashi, who had come out of the store and strolled down the road at the same slow pace.

"I should go home." Ino admitted, though she did the opposite. Her curiosity had always gotten her in trouble. She had always needed to know every little thing and was constantly called a gossip or a nosy brat who didn't know when to stick to her own business, but she could never help her nature.

She just knew she had to stick this out to know once and for all whether he heard her or not. And so Ino followed Kakashi from the ground instead of the roofs. A part of her hoped that he would get lost in the crowd so she could go back home and cry her eyes out. Her eyes never left his figure.

Kakashi stopped in front of a series of apartments and brought out a key. He entered his home and closed the door without looking back.

Ino watched the closed door for a moment before knocking on it. After a few minutes he still didn't answer, so she let herself into his place. The loud girl heard a shower going as she looked around the small apartment. It wasn't exactly a clean or dirty place. Ino knew she should leave or at least wait outside until he was done showering so he didn't know that she just let herself in and was thinking about touching his things like a crazy stalker. She knew that she shouldn't walked towards the closed door that the sound of running water was coming from, just as she knew she shouldn't open the door and close it behind her.

Ino walked up towards the white curtain that separated Kakashi from her. _I must have lost it and gone crazy. What am I doing? _

She discarded the fact invading his personal space would mean losing her semi-good reputation and pride, but Ino had convinced herself that she just had to do this one thing, then she would be happy with being told that she was just a child and that he would never have any interest in her. She would just be content as long as she got to see all of his face without the mask.

The blond female closed her eyes as the scenario played out in her head. He would be surprised that she was there and she would say she was sorry and that he had been acting weird. Ino would ramble on until she admitted that she liked him, whether or not he knew about it before, then Kakashi would gaze at her with a look of pity and tell her that there was no way that they would ever be together. She would smile and tell him goodbye…

Ino sealed her fate as she reached up to pull the curtain aside…

**You guys are pretty lucky. I almost completely procrastinated about writing this chapter. Now the last chapter is going to be up on Thursday and I don't think you need a sneak peak at what's going to happen next. Believe me; it's going to be good, but it won't be graphic!!!**

Reviews are much appreciated and they fuel me up and give me a reason to update more frequently!!!


	4. He Could Have Just Told Me!

**I do not own Naruto and I am NOT the manager of the lovely community **_**Wishful Thinking.**_

This fanfiction is dedicated to the Wishful Thinking community that is managed by** liltle**. The theme and title do not belong to me, I just wrote this for the community because I liked the theme and love the pairing even more.

_Ino had a crush on him over the years, way before Sasuke entered the picture. She has recently decided in her sixteenth year that it was all wishful thinking, but Kakashi's recent actions aren't adding up and Ino's going to get to the bottom of it. KakaIno_

**Wishful Thinking**

Chapter 4: "He Could Have Just Told Me!"

Ino reached up and pulled the curtain aside. Whatever had been plaguing her mind was immediately forgotten when she looked into Kakashi's red and black eyes. He was leaning against the wall with his feet up on the sides of the tub. The showerhead had been turned to spray water straight down, so he wouldn't get wet. His mask and clothes were still in place.

Ino continued to stare at the older man and said what first came to mind. "Damn your mask is still on!"

Kakashi's expression remained the same. "What are you doing following me around town, breaking into my apartment, and trying to see me naked in the shower?"

The loud blond female's face turned completely red. She hastily tried to defend herself from his accusations. "I didn't think that you'd be naked…"

He cut her off with a sarcastic remark, "And I suppose everyone showers with their clothes on. It must help them become clean and not hinder it, right?"

"Don't talk down to me!" Ino yelled. She growled at him in anger, "First off, I didn't break into your home, the door was unlocked. Second, I was following you around town because every time you saw me you disappeared, so I couldn't ask you like a normal person why you were acting so strange. And third, I am not a pervert like you," she poked him in the chest as she finished her rant, "I wanted to see your face with your mask off and I wasn't thinking about wanting to see you naked!"

Kakashi grabbed her hand and jumped out of the shower. Ino struggled to back away from his body and to pull her hand away from his. She gasped as he pushed her up against one of the small bathroom walls.

"That's too bad. From what I heard you wouldn't mind seeing me naked." The silver haired man whispered into Ino's ear. She blushed again.

"Y-you heard the confession I-I made to Sakura?"

He didn't answer her. Instead the mysterious man pulled away from the blue eyed blond to turn off the running water. As his back was turned to her he said, "I did. Is that a problem?"

Ino was completely confused. _Why can't he just get it over with and tell me that I'm too young, too naïve, and so stupid? What is Kakashi trying to do by avoiding his eventual rejection of me? Maybe he is waiting for me to poor my heart out, so then he can turn me down…Well screw that! I'm not going to crawl and beg for him to love me!_

She pulled herself up and glared at Kakashi's back as he walked out of the bathroom into the other room of his apartment. "Hey! Stop right there and look at me!"

"And if I don't?" Was Kakashi's casual comment; it was like their whole conversation was already over.

"I might have liked you since I was little, but I'm not the same child I was then. I tried to cover it up and fall for someone else and I made an ass of myself when I did it. I never expected you to find out about my feelings for you and I can't say that I'm not glad that you finally know, but there is no way in hell that you're going to drag this out or pretend it never happened! Tell me right here and now whether you could possibly feel the same way or not, so at least I know how I'm supposed to deal with my feelings for you."

Ino breathed in deeply. All of her fears came back tenfold and she found herself wishing that she never opened her big mouth in the first place.

"Ah, I see."

Kakashi's lack of an answer fueled her fears, so she chose the answer that she figured he would eventually say anyway. "I'm sorry to disturb you, goodbye."

**XXX**

"He could have just told me!" Ino exclaimed as she sat with her best friend, Sakura outside of the dango shop. The two were eating the treat as the blond explained what had happened with Kakashi.

The pink haired girl shook her head. "He really didn't give you a straight answer? So you don't know whether or not Kakashi likes you, right? You left before he could tell you 'no', therefore you can't just give up!"

"I didn't tell you the rest of the story, Sakura! Be patient for once, forehead!" Ino ignored her best friend's retort as she finished her story.

_Ino's hand touched the door when she felt the older man invading her space once again. His hand rested on the door, which prevented her from opening it. She whipped around to face Kakashi and yell at him again, despite the tears that had already escaped her eyes and were sliding down her face, but she found she couldn't speak. _

_He had pulled down his mask, so Ino could see his face. She moved her mouth, though she couldn't form words or sounds. Kakashi leaned down to kiss her on the mouth. It was just a simple peck at first, but it quickly turned into something more that felt like everything that Ino had ever thought it would be kissing her longtime crush. She pulled away to look into his eyes._

"_Why are you kissing me?"_

"_Because your father approves of a relationship between us," Kakashi's eyes were as unreadable as always as he walked back into his small kitchen like nothing important just transpired between the two._

"_Hey, you look at me again and answer all of my questions!" Ino ordered as she ran after her new boyfriend._

Sakura tilted her head. "I'm so confused! Why did Kakashi kiss you and why did your dad approve?"

Ino shrugged. "I asked Kakashi that too and for awhile he wouldn't tell me anything but I eventually annoyed him so much that he finally confessed that he went to my dad to tell him that I had a crush on him and my dad told him that maybe he should try a relationship with me before rejecting the idea just because of age or anything else. After all, my mom is ten years younger than my dad. And I guess the kiss was because he was trying to see if he could have any feelings for me as I do for him."

"So he does have feelings for you too?" The pink haired girl asked as she tried to get all of the facts straight.

"I think so." Ino answered as she finished her dango. "Kakashi isn't the type to talk about his feelings all the time or be completely closed off about it. I think I can assume he likes me back until he stops showing it, although I wish he didn't want me to find the 'meaning beneath his actions' or whatever it is he rants on about."

Sakura waited a second before asking the one question that had her more curious then the story the blond girl had told her.

"Was Kakashi hot underneath the mask?"

"Wouldn't you like to know?" Ino teased.

"Come on, Ino-pig! Tell me! Unless, that is, you're lying about the whole thing…"

"I'm not lying forehead girl! He looks okay, I mean, Sasuke is hotter, but Kakashi's mask looks better on because it adds to the _mystery_ then it does when it's off." Ino closed her eyes happily as she swung her legs back and forth. Both girls jumped as they heard a male voice behind them.

"I'll keep that in mind." Kakashi stated as the two females squeaked and turned to face him.

"Kakashi-sensei, it's not nice to listen in to other people's conversations!" Sakura lectured.

Ino poked him in the chest. "You jerk! Don't sneak up on me like that!"

Kakashi snatched Ino's hand. He brought his other hand up to his face as the wind picked up and the blond girl's hair blocked the sight of Kakashi's face from Sakura's view. The pink haired girl heard the sound of a kiss, but didn't see anything as the breeze died down and Kakashi's mask was once again back in place.

Sakura blurted the first thing that came to mind when she saw the intensely happy expression on her best friend's face. "You mean it wasn't a lie?"

"I told you I wasn't lying!" Ino shouted. The pink haired girl was surprised at the loud blonde's mood swing from happy to mad.

"Wow, what's next? Is Sasuke going to suddenly claim he's gay?" Sakura watched as Ino grabbed Kakashi's hand. The shock eventually wore off and she smiled and wished them all the best, because who knows what might grow and bloom from wishful thinking…

_The End_

**Whoo! This is now complete! Sorry for procrastinating the last chapter, but I wanted more reviews. Oh well. Be sure to check my profile and homepage link as well as message me if you want to talk and beg for more things or updates. I'm going to try to update all of my other stories as well as focus once again on If I Could I Would Not Love You. Thank you and I hope you enjoyed this short fanfic, even though some of you wished it were longer. But now I have another idea for a KakaIno fanfic…Urg! It will have to wait though!**


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